OPINION:

1.. Recently, I lodged in a hotel while in transit. My fourth child came to visit me in the hotel from her University which was close to where I lodged.

During our discussion, her pen slipped out of her hand and rolled under the expansive bed in the hotel room. She lifted the bed to pick up the pen. The mess she saw under the bed her father has been sleeping on was distasteful, embarrassing, nauseating, and better left to the imagination.

For 16 solid years, we allowed PDP to roll, sleep, and sit on top of their mess in Nigeria. They even boasted that they would rule Nigeria for sixty years.  That could have meant 60 years of sitting in their mess. The people prayed for God’s deliverance but our oppressors grew from strength to strength, increasing their act of pilfering, plundering, and looting of our common patrimony.

In 2015, help came and the looters were booted out of the presidency. Their back was exposed, their trousers got turned on their buttocks and their nakedness was exposed. Their failure at the polls in 2015 opened many cans of worms.

We now know how politicians shared money meant for security among themselves and their cronies. Each day brings us new knowledge of the dirt these men were sitting on.

It didn’t take time for most of the men who made PDP stink to change their address to a new home. Their new home was no other party than the ruling APC.

The leadership of APC did not help matters when they announced that any looter that changed his address from PDP to APC would have his sins forgiven. This announcement made past governors, senators, past senate leaders, House members, past ministers, and commissioners who had one skeleton or two switch allegiance to the ruling party.

Becoming a member of the ruling party became a Leeway to escape the law and its consequences. By this strange policy, APC did not just become a twin sister to PDP but she exposed herself as the latest home of corruption. 

Unfortunately, all these and more happened during the tenure of a falsely, overrated, over-bloated, and exaggerated “Mr integrity”, General Buhari.

It is common knowledge that the stench from the new government of APC is all over the face of the Earth. The impact of the stench is a witness to its size. For the first time in her history, Nigeria is known and abusively called the poverty capital of the world.

We, “the people” must unite and vote out APC just as we did to PDP.  It is only when we do this that we can see the despicable, deplorable, distasteful rubbish APC has been sitting on. Allowing them to continue (God forbid this evil) would mean allowing these thieving politicians and their associates to sit on their dirt while we suffer the stench that’s already “oozing” out of their a**s.

2.. The two political parties, PDP and APC have given us good and enough reasons to vote them out come 2023, by the candidates they fielded. 

If we are not all suffering from amnesia, we would recall that in 2015, the presidential candidate of APC earned himself a new name in Nigeria’s political lexicon. In that year, he became “Mr. Bullion Van”, a demonstrative/descriptive name in honor of his humiliating and despicable movement of bribe money meant for the election of that year. We were told by the government bulldog, EFCC that the matter was under investigation. That statement of course marked the death of the matter. Like PDP, her twin sister, the bullion van matter was “settled”  as a “family” squabble. 

That saga added to the already filled baggage of incidences, deceptions, skeletons, and question marks surrounding this candidate.

Like the ubiquitous “unknown gunmen” that wreak havoc on Innocent Nigerians, very little is known about the veracity of his name, age, primary education, secondary education, places he has worked, money said to have been forfeited to the American government to buy back his freedom, where he worked and his personality. 

In brief, the APC candidate’s case is about the more you look, the less you see, a mirage. Is the man a ghost? Time will tell! The time, as used above will depend on our collective effort in booting out APC from the government so that we can see the mess they’re sitting on.

3.. Can Nigeria afford to have another 8  years of PDP kleptomaniac misrule? Affliction shall not rise the second time (Nahum 1:9). 

History does not repeat itself, but men repeat history when they fail to learn from history.

Affliction can only come to Nigeria through PDP  if we fail to remember where they left us and what/who her presidential candidate is. H E Atiku Abubakar is well known to Nigerians. President Obasanjo did a good job of him in his book ” Under my watch”.

If you need a prophet to remind you that a thief is a thief any day, any time then your name is “sorry”. An African proverb has it that “a leopard cannot change its color”. Who sold our common patrimony to his cronies and self?

Imagine us going back to vote for our oppressors. Imagine allowing these ravaging locusts to eat the little that is left of us. Join me to affirm “God forbid” three times.

4.. Our dear country has been raped, plundered,  and divided by these destructive elements in APC and PDP. What we need is a new foundation for our nation, posterity, and our unborn generations. The builder that made a mistake while constructing a building is the wrong person to correct it. You need another experienced, tested, capable, competent, and reliable  builder to correct an error in a house

Nigeria has not just cracked, she’s at the point of collapse. International bodies have predicted that this house is not just shaking but about to collapse and must be salvaged before it’s too late. To get this house salvaged, we must be resolute in showing  APC and PDP the door and bid them goodbye from the political landscape.

5.. The presidential candidates of these twin parties were active participants in the destruction of Nigeria. What solution has Atiku got that he didn’t have while working as the Vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for eight years?

What’s the solution that Tinubu has that he didn’t offer to his principal, the man he boasted to have single-handedly installed as our president, under whose regime he remained the party leader for 8 years? 

He even had the opportunity of doubling as a defacto vice president during these catastrophic years (2015 -2023).

For 24 years, he has held and ruled Lagos as its supreme principality. No wonder some years ago, his friend and associate, the Oba of Lagos threatened to drown those that opposed his unholy grip inside the Lagos Lagoon. Did you hear him condemn that “agbero-like” threat?

That’s who Tinubu is, a supreme ruler that must be obeyed or be drowned. This is repeated by reports of intimidation of traders by his daughter (who is the chair of traders in Nigeria?). Is it true that other political parties are not allowed to mount billboards in Tinubus’ “Lagos State? If this is true, does this not point to a dangerous future under Tinubu’s Presidency? (God forbid this affliction).

6.. Ahmed Bola Tinubu has not left any of us in doubt about why he’s running for the presidency. The news quoted President Obasanjo, (a man he once called a navigator of APC, later he told us that the same man was a waste and finished man) congratulating him for introducing a new political vocabulary into our lexicon. His feeling of entitlement is second to none. For him, the presidency of Nigeria is monarchical, a turn-by-turn leadership from Buhari (the man he made president) to him the kingmaker.

Nigeria for years has been battling with the menace of political godfatherism and we are being forced to accept a new form of the same disease. This time, Tinubu is bringing to us a monarchical theocracy.  Yes, you read well, I mean ” Islamic theocracy”. Don’t be fooled by his statement that he’ll be fair to all. Buhari sang a similar song but you know where we are now.

If Nigerians allow it and he becomes our president, his entitlement disposition would mean that he’ll appoint his stooge to take over from him. In Islamic monarchical theocracy, the absolute leader dictates who has what and what happens eg, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi, etc. 

Lovers of Nigeria must as a matter of urgent national necessity resist this attempt to foist on us a strange system that’s alien to our constitution and our federating units.

I enjoin well-meaning Nigerians in Afinafere, Ohanaeze, Middle Belt Forum, Arewa Elders, and others too numerous to mention here to plead with all citizens to “arise oh compatriots”, let’s recover the soul of Nigeria from the Hawks.

7.. There’s a moral challenge in Nigeria today that would be compounded if any of these two men parading themselves as APC and PDP presidential candidates are allowed to have their way. 

We are already in muddy water where our leaders rubbish and destroy our health /educational institutions and run overseas in search of the same for themselves and their family members. 

Why are our medical personnel leaving Nigeria for greener pastures? Our President is the greatest medical tourist of all time! 

Whatever he’s looking for in the UK is what the medical doctors and nurses are looking for. 

Why are our Professors and lecturers leaving for overseas in droves? Whatever the children and family members of the President are looking for in foreign schools is what the lecturers and professors are looking for. 

What’s the moral burden of having “certificate” leaders? Our children will have no value in formal education!  Buhari has questionable credentials which have impacted negatively on our education. Having another BAT with questionable credentials would bury all our educational institutions. 

The moral burden is simple: “in Nigeria, anybody, crook, yahoo, drug baron, agbero, just name it can become anything. Is this the legacy we want to bequeath to our unborn generations? 

8.. An American friend once said to me:” For us, every Nigerian is a fraud. The onus lies on each Nigerian to prove himself /herself otherwise. This is the result of the elitist rascality we’ve allowed to fester our national life. Our political class has allowed their greed and avarice to define who we are. 

We need a paradigm shift to redefine who we are and our national goal. These two men parading themselves as Apc/PDP presidential candidates are strangers and aliens to decency and nationalism. Allowing them to enter the presidential villa will announce the liberalization of evil, the enthronement of corruption, and every abominable lifestyle. Can you fathom a “Mr. Boko Haram” as vice president of Nigeria? Has he apologized for allowing those Chibok girls to be carted away under his watch even when the commander in Chief gave him an instruction to relocate the girls? 

9.. 2023 is a defining year for Nigeria. It is a make or mar year for our nation. It is a year we must eschew all forms of sentiments, ethnic /tribal considerations, religion, and all that has put us down over the years and think outside the box. It is a year we must ask questions and demand answers. If you are from the North, ask the politician asking you to vote for him why the NBS’s recent statistics show that the poorest Nigerians live in the North despite the number of years the North has ruled Nigeria.

Atiku’s school has a fee that only a few northern elites can afford. How has his stupendous wealth impacted the ordinary northerner? Does he live here or in Dubai? What’s his level of participation in your everyday life? Has he ever condemned the activities of the bandits and Boko Haram ravaging the north? How has he been a solution to the problems of the north or on the other hand facilitated them? ASK, BEFORE YOU VOTE?! IT’S YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW! 

If you are a Muslim, ask both Atiku and BAT why Northern Muslim states are the poorest even though Muslims have ruled Nigeria more than any other religion. Insist on an answer to your questions. 

If you’re from the SW, ask BAT who said he’ll be fair to all how fair he’s been in managing the income of Lagos state in 24 years of his iron rule there. Is Lagos the best city in Africa? Is Lagos the best city in the world? His supporters argue that he built Lagos, did he build a hospital?

Why does he run to UK and France all the time for his medical treatment? How much has he stolen from the city he claims to have built? What’s his pension like? Insist that figures be given to you or go to Google for answers. 

Ask questions, it is your right to ask and be answered.  Who are his classmates? Which school did he attend? What’s his age? Can a man be 68 years or 69 and his daughter would be 60? So, he started f***ing at 9 years? What a moral burden for our children! Why are schools in Nigeria and overseas he claimed to have attended ALL denying him?

SW is the region with the highest number of educated men and women in Nigeria. Does it speak well that they allow a man with a questionable pedigree to represent them? 

Ask yourself this important question: “why should I keep on voting for these two parties that have not changed my life in any way? 

A madman is defined as one that keeps doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. I know you’re not mad, are you? 

Why vote for a group that has caused you harm, allowed bandits to kill your loved ones, watched over the kidnap of your loved ones and did nothing, raped the economy, shattered your hope, destroyed the future of your children, accumulated and are still accumulating foreign debts that generations unborn would not be able to pay? 

If you’re not mad, then get angry and use your power to chase these men away from our national life. Your power lies in your PVC. Keep it safe and don’t sell it. 

Let’s prove to these men that “WE” the people are not mad. 2023 is the year to stand up and be counted as a participant in the recovery of Nigeria from the men that stole the soul of our nation. 

10..  In rebuilding Nigeria, we need a man positioned by destiny, equity, justice, fairness, and posterity.

I do not support him because he’s Igbo. He’ll be the first Presidential candidate from SE that I’ve ever supported and would vote for come 2023. HE Peter Obi, unlike other political gladiators, has no corruption baggage. A country that is in a dearth of role models needs “a man without guile” to steer its affairs. 

Today, we read John Chapter 9 in our morning prayer. The Jews could not find fault in Jesus so sought irrelevant proof to justify their resolve to destroy him. They saw him heal a man who was born blind and in place of appreciation, chose to castigate him for not obeying a Sabbath law.  

In a country where politicians are known to be “fantastically corrupt,” Peter Obi stands out as a model of integrity, competence, and frugality. Everything about him is verifiable, unlike others whose load is too heavy with skeletons that they can’t afford to grant interviews, avoid social media, avoid debates or face the press. Kayano and the “monkey of Kogi west senatorial”are doing their dirty jobs trying to turn black to white. Unfortunately for them, we saw Mr, Liar Muhammed, before them.

Dear compatriot, keep your PVC intact, and don’t trade it for a morsel. Vote for a competent leader. Let’s take back our country from the Hawks. A new Nigeria is possible.

God bless Nigeria.

OPINION: 

By: Richyard Awa Kalu Ume JP, PhD